LOSING TIME TO INJURY

 The past 2 days I have finally able to walk up and down the stairs without needing two hands – one on banister and one on opposite wall – to do so and not having to step on each step with both feet.  Only need the one hand on the banister.  This is making it easier on me to do things.  I could actually carry the empty laundry down the 2 flights to the basement to do this week's laundry – last week husband had to carry it down.  Leg is not perfect yet, but it is better.  

It is hard to get things down when one cannot carry things downstairs at all – I had progressed earlier in the past week to being able to hang a plastic shopping around my wrist on the hand which was holding the banister to get some things down the stairs or shove them in the pockets of my jeans – small, light things in both cases.  

Have not gotten a lot of work done due to this as I have been trying to not keep walking up and down the stairs so I tended to stay on the same floor of the house for as long as possible before moving to another floor.  Once downstairs to cook and eat dinner – stayed downstairs until for bed, for example.  Husband has been very helpful as he worries about me.  

So, I have not gotten much done the past week – mostly treading water to keep from falling further behind.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

One never know when something small will make big problems for one.  I try to keep the house up to date (though rarely succeed at same) to make it easier when something throws me off schedule.  Hopefully I will be caught up soon with what has fallen behind.

WHEN ONE'S SCHEDULE GOES AWRY - BE PREPARED FOR CHANGE

Something we don't really think about planning for – but should.  Yesterday I pulled a muscle in the back of my left shin – OW!  I have done this before and it goes away so I (and my poor husband) are just putting up with it for now.  

I figured out the least painful – and safest – way for me to go up and down the stairs.  It happened on the steps outside our back door on our trip out for lunch – so I was walking about in stores for awhile before I had to deal with the steps again.  I need to keep my left leg straight as much as possible to avoid pain.  I never realized that there are so many things I do which I never think of as I do them.  

Apparently my left leg cannot be higher than my right leg – by which I mean – on the stairs I have to step up with my right leg and then pull the left one up to the same step -repeat.  Coming down the stairs I have to step down with my left leg and then with my right leg.  Basically if my legs are different steps my right leg has to be the one higher up.  When I forget – I am quickly reminded by the pain.  

When sitting in the house I put my left leg up on something – in the kitchen I use the single step that I keep under the table so I can climb up and reach the higher shelves in the  top cabinets (meaning anything above the bottom shelf).  Convenient to rest my left leg on – and since the step is at back end of the table (a couple of feet from where I am sitting) when I put my foot on it my leg is more or less straight on a slight downward angle – perfect for my leg.  (I am at the table as I write.)  When at my desk I have a file box stored under under it which serves the same purpose.  That leaves the car and our lunch out today as the problems – I tried to keep my leg in the air as much as I could.  

But how does this relate to organizing?

Well, it is laundry night.  Main laundry has to come down 2 flights of stairs to the basement from the hall closet outside of our bedroom.  I always tie the laundry bag closed and give them a shove down these stairs – so that was relatively easy.  I cannot do this with our basement stairs as there is a display of electric trains cars across from the foot of the steps – maybe 2 feet from the bottom step – and I don't want to damage them.  I was planning to ask my husband to carry the bag down for me – but being the nice person he is he figured out the problem and offered to carry the bag downstairs.  The bag for our downstairs laundry (towels from kitchen and downstairs bathroom only – unless we use a tablecloth or fabric napkins due to a holiday and that I could carry down the stairs and did.  

First load of laundry (clothing) is now in the dryer and second load (towels and laundry bags) is in the washer.  Later when he comes downstairs for late night/pre-bed snack I will ask him to carry the laundry basket down for me.  I will empty the dryer into the laundry basket and throw the second load in the dryer – it will stay there until tomorrow anyway  after it finishes running and hopefully I will be better by then.  I fold the laundry in bed while he is getting ready for bed (and usually a bit after in the dark by the light of the TV) so that is not a problem.  

I know that I often read about how important it is to have one's family throw the laundry in “the hamper”.  I don't use a hamper – I hang our big laundry bag at the bottom of the closet – 3 hooks in the closet and 3 rings on the laundry bag which line up with them and hold the bag up and open.  This holds dirty clothes, towels, bedding and anything else. When time for laundry take the rings off the hooks, pull the bag closed  - go to top of staircase to ground floor of house and  -  - push !  Gravity takes the bag down the stairs.  Any laundry which goes into closet before the bag is replaced, I just pick up and toss in when I put the bag back.  Downstairs I have a smaller laundry bag hanging on a hook on the basement side of the door to the basement.  Just take it down and carry the relatively light bag when I go down to put the first load in the dryer and start this load.  Laundry bags both go in the second load.  

Sheets and pillowcases are their own load when I wash them, as are blankets.  Some weeks I need to wash reenacting clothing also – and they can be one or two loads depending on if I only need to the “small clothes” - that is the period undergarments, socks, neck cloths and cap, depending on if all need washing or if there are main clothing items which also need to be laundered.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Sometimes things happen – whether an injury, an illness, not being able to do a chore on the day it is normally done (such as being away or involved in a problem which arises), or a myriad of other things which throws one work schedule off or makes it harder to deal with or equipment needed dies.  One should have some idea of alternatives (do the laundry the next day or have someone else do it if you can, get help and so on) that can be used in these situations.  Or one has to learn to think quickly on their feet to deal with things.

DO YOU MULTI TASK - I AM DOING SO RIGHT NOW!

 I haven't written a post since the start of the month?  I am shocked.  I actually have last week's post writing (and posting of it) checked off in my calendar!  

And nothing special to write this week either.  Hmmm -

Multitasking – that's it!  I do a lot of multitasking to get things done.  As I am writing this the first load of laundry for the week is in the washer.  I am in the kitchen and can sort of hear the washer – plus I set an alarm in my older cell phone to remind to go down in 50 minutes and switch loads.  

I will then transfer this load – all of our clothes from the past week (with two sets of exceptions) to the dryer and toss in the towels and laundry bags to wash.  Reset alarm for another 50 minutes and put the clothes in the laundry basket with husband's shirts laid across the top of the load so they don't get wrinkled.  The towels then go into the dryer.  

If we have used most (or all) of our Covid masks (we are still wearing them when we go out as we are both high risk and many people here still do so) I will throw them into the washer for another load.  I put the masks in smaller sized net bags that zipper closed to protect them in the washer.  I own 3 bags and will spread the masks as evenly as possible in the bags.   The alarm is reset for another 50 minutes.  If not the alarm will not be reset as I don't take the last load out until tomorrow.  

If the masks are in the washer, when I go down again I will put the towels in the larger laundry bag from the dryer and leave it on top of the washer.  The masks will go into the dryer set on half an hour and will be taken out the next day.  I take the masks out of the net bags for drying, but zip the bags closed again and put them in the dryer with the masks.  

Some weeks I have a different third load than the masks.  When I have a load of sweatshirts that I wear to keep warm – in winter as it is cold and in hot weather because husband has the air conditioner on and I get too cold.  These would go in the washer after the towels as an extra load every few weeks when I have used up most of them.  Or I could be washing the sheets and pillowcases from our bed as a third (or even fourth load).  Once in awhile I could also be washing the blankets from the bed as an additional load.  

While all of the laundry is being done I write and post to all of you.  I also visit an online needlework group.  Sometimes I do some clothing repair/sock darning.  

And while I do almost everything in the house – the TV is on for me to “watch” - well, mostly listen to and look up at every now.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Plan to use your time as well as possible.  If you have something that you can “set and forget” such as laundry – use the same time to do something which takes more attention. 

SHOPPING LISTS FOR FOOD SHOPPING AND LOST OUR ELECTRICITY - AND YES, THEY ARE RELATED

Another month gone already? Hard to believe.

Early in the pandemic we had been going out food shopping about every 2 months – takes a lot of planning to manage to do that.  More recently we have been doing so every 3 weeks.  

Why every 3 weeks?  We have been treating ourselves to a frozen entree meal on Sunday nights.  I can fit 4 of them in our SMALL spare freezer which is in our basement with everything else which needs to fit in it. So to be sure that we do not run out we shop – and refill on these dinners – every 3 weeks, buying 3 new ones to add to the one left in the freezer.  

I have come up with a good way to organize what we need to buy.  On one of early trips to this supermarket I wrote on the back of my shopping list which items – that we use – were in each aisle.  My aisle one is the first one we go to when shopping – NOT the aisle they have marked as Aisle 1.  The store is a Walmart “Neighborhood Market” - a supermarket and pharmacy with related items only.  Our regular Walmart stores are relatively small compared to those elsewhere (even the one Supermarket seems unusually small to me) and only have small food sections.  

I keep track of items on which we are running low or otherwise need to buy in a memo app in my cell phone.  

I then set up a worksheet in Excel to use for my shopping list.  I have a list by aisle number (my numbering system as mentioned above) on the right side of the worksheet of items in each aisle – by category.  In the middle of the worksheet I have a master list of things we buy – again listed by aisle.  A night or so before we will be going shopping I go through the list in my cell phone and add it to the left side of the worksheet – again by aisle number.  I then do a quick look through of the items in our small pantry closet in the kitchen and the items which are being stored on my work tablet in our studio (one day I will actually be able to use the work table again) and see what we need to buy – or might want to buy as something different.  The night before we are going shopping husband and I sit and I run the through the list with him while we have our late night snack (our 3rd meal of the day).  He might say he no longer wants a food that we are low on or that he wants to make something different for dinner, or that he wants to add something to the list.  When we are done I print out the list (actually I copy it to Notepad and then to a 2 column file in Libreoffice so it is a shorter,  2 column list and easier to deal with in the store).  

Our state made it illegal (just as the pandemic was starting by coincidence) for stores to hand out plastic bags and depending on where in the state one lives (by county/ major city) either one is charged a fee per paper bag which goes to the state or if one's county/major city has not passed such a law, the stores may charge for paper bags (and of course for heavier reusable plastic bags).  Over the decades I have done something which organizing books (and my husband) say not to do – I have saved bags – paper and plastic – and we have used them for various purposes when needed – including our hand crafted business (though can no longer use for same) at craft shows.  I figure we have close to a lifetime's amount of bags to use.  If we are going in a store casually – no list, only looking for a few items, I fold up the plastic bags (the “one time use ones”) and put them in the back pockets of my jeans – remember, I don't carry a purse or pocketbook – I can fit up to 3 bags in each of the pockets depending on the weight of the bag material.  When we are going in for one of the major food shopping trips I have paper bags – kept doubled – in the back of our vehicles to take in and use.  Generally 4 of these doubled bags is what we need for the 3 week shopping trips.  

So last night we went over the list I had made, added a couple of things, removed a couple of things – and printed it out.  Ready to go today!

Of course life loves playing jokes on people (sometimes it seems especially on us).  Husband woke up early this morning as he was so terribly warm – he got out of bed to turn the air conditioner colder – no lights on the air conditioner, clock not lit up – electricity was out!   So he did what he does whenever there is a problem and I am sleeping – he woke me up in a panic.  I tried to telephone our electric company  - but could not find them in my current or old cell phone in the address books – I started to panic and was about to go across the hall to our home office for the most recent bill – when husband mentioned their name – duh moment! - I was looking for their old name.  Call made to electric company and back to sleep – sort of, but not really as he was terribly nervous about the outage.  We have an ongoing problem – a transformer on the nearby utility pole blows and shuts off.  It makes a loud noise and generally the noise will wake me up and we know what happened – don't know it may have been same or not this time.  (One time this transformer blew 3 times within a week.)

In just about an hour I heard everything click on and we had our electricity back.  Then husband started to panic over whether or not food had gone back in the refrigerator or freezer.  I told him that I had not fallen asleep until after 6 am – not unusual for me – so the electricity had been off for less than 3 hours.  Later he checked the thermometer we keep in the fridge – it is a remoter read and the highest temperature in the past 24 hours was okay.  

So we got dressed, went out to Wendys for lunch and off to food shop.  Many food items still not in stock – we were able to buy frozen carrots for only the second time in months – and finally full sized bags of same were available.  Well, at least now we are stocked for another 3 weeks – though we will do some filling in at one of the regular Walmarts near us as needed for bread and such I between – and the outage was short and not AFTER we filled the freezer and refrigerator.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Make sure you can easily find the contact information for your utility companies in case they are needed in an emergency.  After we came home and unpacked I went into my cell phone (and my old cell which I use a PDA also) and put in a fictitious phone listing with the old name of our electric utility – it has the old name and a note of the correct one, so next time there is an emergency and I forgot the name changed – I will see the correct one to contact when I look up the old one.  Trust me – it will prevent a lot of panic in the years to come.

WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?

 Two weeks without a post- sorry – not sure how they went past unnoticed.  Husband has had me busy working on projects.  

My husband and are - in addition to our professions – professional craft artists.  We have each worked in an assortment of media over the decades – husband, a larger assortment than me.  Currently husband is working at weaving.  

Our living room serves as a “loom room” from around mid January to mid December.  (I get the room back for remaining month to decorate for Christmas.)  He recently bought a smallish big screen TV which is also in the living room – due to lack of anywhere else to put it.  

Our reenactment unit has two events coming up in the next couple of months which are more of craft demonstrations than correct 18th century reenactments, so he can bring his loom to those to those 2 events and can sell items he has woven.  (It is a modern type of smaller loom and he has an even smaller version to take to events such as these.)  So he is working on weaving some additional items to bring along.  (I demonstrate embroidery – much easier to set up and needs much less room to work.)

When he sets up a project to weave (called warping the loom) we have to run the yarn which will be woven on across the length of our living room to have enough room – and now we (I) have to be careful not to knock into the TV and throw it over.  So, warping the loom now involves moving things so they are not in the way – which things never would have been in the way before.  

The process for each piece takes an afternoon for the part that I have to help him with (he then has to do additional things to finish the setup – but I only have to come in for a few minutes to check that the warp threads are evenly and sufficiently stretched.

We have done this process twice in the past 2 weeks – each one, an afternoon gone.  Now I will have time to myself as he is working on weaving this piece for a few days.  

So in between working at accomplishing my normal daily, weekly, monthly chores, I have been losing time to helping him warp his loom and posting to all of you was not done.  

ADDITION TO AUGUST 11 POST

 Still have not found the missing items - really, house is not THAT disorganized, they have to be here somewhere logical - right?

EVEN IN A PANDEMIC - THINGS BREAK AND NEED TO BE REPLACED

 The time had come – we had to replace one of our toilet seats – the one in the upstairs bathroom.  We have been in the house for about 33 years.  We have 2 bathrooms and have replaced each of the toilet seats at least once.  The upstairs toilet seat apparently had a plastic film seal over the seat and the hole that had suddenly appeared in the film was getting too big to ignore, so a new one was needed.  (I am a big believer in “whenever you can ignore a problem – do so”.)  I had not actually completely ignored the problem  - I had given a bit of a pull to the edge of the hole to see if it would expand...

Now a toilet seat might seem a generic item and replaceable with no thought, but having grown up in a home where the bathroom was alternatively referred to as “the reading room” and “daddy's office”, I can assure you it does take some thought – especially when one is on a budget.  First I read up on toilet seats as I knew that these days there are different shapes and though there might even be different sizes – only different shapes.  I was pretty sure ours was a “round” as opposed to an “elongated” - the latter being a newer style of toilet than ours – which predates our buying the house.  I was right.  So size was determined – round.  Price is always a factor and we did not something fancy – so next question was plastic or (not, not paper) wood?  We have one of each (our half bath in our kitchen* has a wood seat).  Husband studied the seats in both bathrooms and decided on plastic.

Then the hard question – Home Depot or Lowes?  I noticed that Home Depot had a lot more choices than Lowes, but husband had to go to both stores.  He bought the plastic, round seat, near, but not at the bottom of the price range, we had figured would be good for us and we took it home.  

At home  - after it sat around for a few days, of course, he opened the box and took the seat to the bathroom to see how it would be.  He then went to the Home Depot website and decided that maybe we should have a more substantial seat and found one.  Back to Home Depot and bought that seat.  We had not returned the original so we could think about it.  

He decided the new one was more substantial and decided to put it in.  It was another manufacturer and had a more complicated installation than the other (and our old) seat – involving putting in the hinge and then pushing the seat connectors into the hinge.  When he took the seat out of the box it had several large scratches on it.  Back to thinking.  One thing he mentioned that was that the scratched one was slightly, but measurably thicker - “Does that matter?”  My first response was “no”, but then I thought about it.  This toilet is somehow taller than the one downstairs (which should be the same size) and the downstairs one is a slightly more comfortable height for me  so I changed my response to “yes” and explained this to him.  We decided to go with the first seat.  

We went to install the first seat we bought.  We took off the old one – cleaned the toilet well (my job) and went to install the new seat.  Unfortunately no one thought that one have the toilet sitting almost against the side wall.  (I often joke that we should take out the toilet paper and find someplace else to put it so my leg does not touch it when using the toilet – it is that close a space.)  Installing the left side of the seat was complicated by this problem, but we managed to get installed.  Well, that's something accomplished.  

The seat does have a new feature – s l o w  c l o s i n g.  I am used to holding the end of the seat to keep it from falling too quickly and have to learn to let go and let it fall.